Automated Cooking for Restaurants

Cooking robots that cook the repeat dishes on their own. One cook runs several machines, every portion comes out the same, and your chefs get their hands back for the dishes that need them.

Automatic stir-fry machine on a restaurant counter, its drum tilted forward and fried rice with egg tossing inside

What automated cooking is, and what a robot chef really looks like

Automated cooking means a machine does the hands-on part of a recipe by itself. It runs the heat and the stirring from a stored program and stops when the dish is done. The cook weighs and loads the ingredients and takes the finished dish out. In a restaurant this is called kitchen automation, and the machines are sold as cooking robots or a robot chef.

A robot chef is not a humanoid standing at the stove. It is a wok that turns on its own, a kettle with a stirrer built in, an oven that switches from steam to dry heat on schedule. Most of them are easier to run than a dishwasher. That is what food automation looks like in a working kitchen. The ten machines on this page are all in our catalog, and each one takes over one job a cook does by hand today.

36.5%

Of sales go to wages and benefits

That is the median for a US full-service restaurant in 2024, up from about 33% a decade earlier. Restaurant labor cost is the biggest line a kitchen can change.

National Restaurant Association, Restaurant Operations Data Abstract 2025

77%

Of operators struggle to hire and keep staff

Recruiting and keeping people is a significant challenge for more than three in four restaurant operators. A machine does not quit after its first month.

National Restaurant Association, State of the Restaurant Industry 2025

$7

Back for every $1 spent on cutting kitchen waste

A study of 114 restaurants in 12 countries found that money put into measuring and reducing food waste paid back about seven times.

Champions 12.3, The Business Case for Reducing Food Loss and Waste: Restaurants, 2019

What restaurant automation changes in the kitchen

An automated restaurant is not a robotic restaurant with no people in it. It is a kitchen where the repeat work is done by machines and the people do the rest.

Lunchtime pass with a long row of identical rice and noodle dishes ready for service

More plates from the same line

A machine keeps cooking while the cook prepares the next batch. Output per hour grows without new burners or new hires, because the line is limited by how many machines fit on it, not by how many cooks stand at it.

Chef's hands plating a dish with tweezers while an automatic wok works in the background

Chefs cook what needs a chef

Fried rice, soups and sauces are the dishes a machine repeats best. Taking them off the line frees your chef for hand-made dishes and specials, which are the plates guests come back for.

Cook walking between three automatic stir-fry machines on a long kitchen counter

One cook runs several machines

A cook loads a wok robot, starts the program and moves to the next machine. One person can look after several stations that would each need their own cook by hand, so a shift needs fewer people and a sick day hurts less.

Portioned raw ingredients weighed on a kitchen scale next to an automatic cooking machine

Less food in the bin

A burned or overcooked batch goes in the bin. A machine cooks to a program with fixed heat and timing, so fewer batches are lost. Ingredients are weighed into the recipe once, which is food cost control you do not have to watch.

Six identical bowls of fried rice with the same garnish lined up on a counter

The same portion every time

The machine does not know who pressed the button. A dish started by the head chef and a dish started by a cook on their second day come out the same. That is portion control and food consistency without a supervisor at the pass.

Young cook pressing the start button on an automatic cooking machine

A new cook is ready in one shift

The recipe lives in the machine. A new cook learns to load it and press start, not years of wok technique, so a staff change does not change the taste of the menu.

How an automated cooking station works on a shift

Four steps, and the cook is needed for two of them.

  1. Pick the recipe

    Choose the dish on the control panel. The program already holds the heat, the time and the stirring for it.

  2. Load the ingredients

    Add the ingredients that were weighed out during prep, in the order the recipe asks for them.

  3. The machine cooks

    It heats, stirs and times the dish on its own and signals when it is done. The cook is at the next machine by then.

  4. Plate and go again

    Tip the dish out, rinse or let the machine clean itself, and load the next batch.

Which cooking robot automates what

One machine per card. Each says where it fits, which job it takes off a cook, what it cooks and what it saves, and how fast it pays for itself on cook time alone. We count a cook at $20 an hour, which is the US median cook wage of $17.19 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2024) plus payroll taxes. A month is 26 working days. The three rows are the hours of cook time the machine frees in a day; your own kitchen decides which row is yours. Savings on oil, food and energy come on top and are not counted.

Automatic wok: the stir-fry robot

Automatic wok: the stir-fry robot

A wok robot cooks a stir-fry from start to finish on its own. It is the machine most people mean by a cooking robot, and the core of most automated kitchens.

Где применить

  • Asian and wok restaurants
  • Fast casual and bowl concepts
  • Cloud kitchens and ghost kitchens
  • Staff canteens

Что берёт на себя

  • Tossing and stirring at the wok
  • Timing each batch to the second
  • Repeating the same dish all service

Что готовит

  • Fried rice and nasi goreng
  • Pad thai and chow mein
  • Kung pao chicken, beef and broccoli
  • Curries and stews

Что экономит

  • A cook at every wok
  • Oil and sauce, loaded by recipe
  • Burned batches thrown away

Окупаемость на времени повара

День Освобождает Экономия в месяц Окупится за
Quiet day 2 ч в день 1,040.00 ฿ 58.0 мес.
Normal day 4 ч в день 2,080.00 ฿ 29.0 мес.
Busy day 6 ч в день 3,120.00 ฿ 19.3 мес.

Час повара — 20.00 ฿, 26 рабочих дней в месяц, цена машины — из каталога. Hours freed is the time a cook no longer stands at the wok; loading and plating stay with the cook.

от 60,284.00 ฿ →
Drum stir-fry machine for large batches

Drum stir-fry machine for large batches

A gas drum that turns a 2.5 kg batch on its own. It is the automatic stir fry machine for kitchens that cook the same dish for a crowd.

Где применить

  • Canteens and school kitchens
  • Catering and events
  • High-volume fast casual

Что берёт на себя

  • Stirring big batches evenly
  • Cooking several kilos without a cook at the drum

Что готовит

  • Fried rice and fried noodles
  • Stir-fried vegetables
  • Scrambled egg and tofu

Что экономит

  • Cook time on bulk dishes
  • Gas, with a closed drum that keeps the heat in
  • Uneven batches

Окупаемость на времени повара

День Освобождает Экономия в месяц Окупится за
Quiet day 2 ч в день 1,040.00 ฿ 82.8 мес.
Normal day 4 ч в день 2,080.00 ฿ 41.4 мес.
Busy day 6 ч в день 3,120.00 ฿ 27.6 мес.

Час повара — 20.00 ฿, 26 рабочих дней в месяц, цена машины — из каталога. Hours freed is time a cook spends stirring bulk batches by hand.

от 86,120.00 ฿ →
Tilting kettle with a built-in stirrer

Tilting kettle with a built-in stirrer

A jacketed kettle that stirs the pot for you and tips it out when it is done, from 50 to 1,000 liters. Nothing sticks to the bottom and nobody stands over it.

Где применить

  • Central kitchens
  • Hotels and banquet kitchens
  • Catering and canteens

Что берёт на себя

  • Stirring sauces and soups for hours
  • Cooking thick dishes that burn easily
  • Emptying heavy pots safely

Что готовит

  • Tomato and cream sauces
  • Soups, chili and stews
  • Risotto and porridge
  • Jams, fillings and caramel

Что экономит

  • Hours of stirring
  • Burned pots and lost batches
  • Back strain from lifting heavy pots

Окупаемость на времени повара

День Освобождает Экономия в месяц Окупится за
Quiet day 1 ч в день 520.00 ฿ 79.5 мес.
Normal day 2 ч в день 1,040.00 ฿ 39.7 мес.
Busy day 3 ч в день 1,560.00 ฿ 26.5 мес.

Час повара — 20.00 ฿, 26 рабочих дней в месяц, цена машины — из каталога. Priced from the 50-liter model; bigger kettles free more hours a day.

от 41,338.00 ฿ →
Combi oven with programs

Combi oven with programs

A combi oven cooks with steam, dry heat or both, and switches between them on a stored program. Eight trays work through the program while the cook does something else.

Где применить

  • Restaurants of every size
  • Hotels and banquets
  • Central kitchens

Что берёт на себя

  • Roasting and steaming without watching the oven
  • Cooking overnight on a timer
  • Reheating plated food for banquets

Что готовит

  • Roast chicken, pork belly and ribs
  • Steamed fish and vegetables
  • Bread, pastry and lasagna

Что экономит

  • Separate steamer and oven on the line
  • Shrinkage, with moist heat that keeps meat juicy
  • Night shifts

Окупаемость на времени повара

День Освобождает Экономия в месяц Окупится за
Quiet day 1 ч в день 520.00 ฿ 234.8 мес.
Normal day 2 ч в день 1,040.00 ฿ 117.4 мес.
Busy day 3 ч в день 1,560.00 ฿ 78.3 мес.

Час повара — 20.00 ฿, 26 рабочих дней в месяц, цена машины — из каталога. Hours freed is time a cook would spend checking and moving trays.

от 122,118.00 ฿ →
Automatic pasta cooker

Automatic pasta cooker

Six baskets that drop into boiling water and lift out on their own timers. Each portion cooks exactly as long as it should, even at the busiest moment of service.

Где применить

  • Italian restaurants
  • Ramen and noodle bars
  • Fast casual

Что берёт на себя

  • Watching six portions at once
  • Lifting baskets on time

Что готовит

  • Pasta of every shape
  • Ramen, udon and rice noodles
  • Dumplings and gnocchi
  • Blanched vegetables

Что экономит

  • A cook standing at the pasta station
  • Overcooked portions
  • Water and energy with one tank for six baskets

Окупаемость на времени повара

День Освобождает Экономия в месяц Окупится за
Quiet day 1 ч в день 520.00 ฿ 157.0 мес.
Normal day 2 ч в день 1,040.00 ฿ 78.5 мес.
Busy day 3 ч в день 1,560.00 ฿ 52.3 мес.

Час повара — 20.00 ฿, 26 рабочих дней в месяц, цена машины — из каталога. Hours freed is time at the pasta station during service.

от 81,642.00 ฿ →
Fresh noodle machine that mixes, rolls and cuts

Fresh noodle machine that mixes, rolls and cuts

Mixes the dough, rolls it into sheets and cuts it into noodles, 80 to 100 kg an hour. Fresh noodles every morning without anyone kneading.

Где применить

  • Ramen shops
  • Chinese and Asian restaurants
  • Dumpling houses
  • Central kitchens

Что берёт на себя

  • Mixing and kneading dough
  • Rolling and cutting by hand

Что готовит

  • Ramen and udon
  • Alkaline and egg noodles
  • Dumpling wrappers and wonton skins

Что экономит

  • Hours of hand rolling
  • Bought-in noodles at a markup
  • Dough lost to uneven sheets

Окупаемость на времени повара

День Освобождает Экономия в месяц Окупится за
Quiet day 1 ч в день 520.00 ฿ 298.1 мес.
Normal day 2 ч в день 1,040.00 ฿ 149.1 мес.
Busy day 4 ч в день 2,080.00 ฿ 74.5 мес.

Час повара — 20.00 ฿, 26 рабочих дней в месяц, цена машины — из каталога. Hours freed is the hand-rolling time the machine replaces.

от 155,015.00 ฿ →
Automatic egg and omelet machine

Automatic egg and omelet machine

Six molds that cook eggs and omelets the same way every time. It is the automatic egg cooker for breakfasts where a hundred guests arrive in one hour.

Где применить

  • Hotel breakfasts
  • Brunch cafes
  • Burger restaurants and breakfast counters

Что берёт на себя

  • Frying eggs to order during the rush
  • Keeping every egg the same shape and size

Что готовит

  • Fried eggs and omelets
  • Egg patties for burgers and muffins
  • Tamagoyaki-style rolls

Что экономит

  • A cook at the egg station all morning
  • Broken and overcooked eggs
  • The queue at the breakfast buffet

Окупаемость на времени повара

День Освобождает Экономия в месяц Окупится за
Quiet day 1 ч в день 520.00 ฿ 69.6 мес.
Normal day 2 ч в день 1,040.00 ฿ 34.8 мес.
Busy day 3 ч в день 1,560.00 ฿ 23.2 мес.

Час повара — 20.00 ฿, 26 рабочих дней в месяц, цена машины — из каталога. Hours freed is time at the egg station during breakfast service.

от 36,171.00 ฿ →
Sous vide circulator

Sous vide circulator

Holds a water bath at an exact temperature for hours, so vacuum-packed food cooks evenly to the center. Meat comes out the same doneness every time.

Где применить

  • Fine dining
  • Steakhouses
  • Banquets and catering

Что берёт на себя

  • Cooking proteins to an exact core temperature
  • Holding food ready for service

Что готовит

  • Steak and short rib
  • Duck breast and chicken
  • Salmon and cod
  • Slow-cooked eggs

Что экономит

  • Meat lost to overcooking
  • Shrinkage, so more portions per kilo
  • Last-minute cooking at the pass

Окупаемость на времени повара

День Освобождает Экономия в месяц Окупится за
Quiet day 0.5 ч в день 260.00 ฿ 228.6 мес.
Normal day 1 ч в день 520.00 ฿ 114.3 мес.
Busy day 2 ч в день 1,040.00 ฿ 57.1 мес.

Час повара — 20.00 ฿, 26 рабочих дней в месяц, цена машины — из каталога. Hours freed is the time a cook would spend watching proteins on the grill or in the pan.

от 59,423.00 ฿ →
Conveyor toaster

Conveyor toaster

A conveyor toaster pulls bread through the heat on a belt, up to 450 slices an hour. Put the bread in, take it out toasted, nothing to watch.

Где применить

  • Burger restaurants
  • Hotel breakfasts
  • Sandwich shops and cafes

Что берёт на себя

  • Toasting buns and bread in a steady stream
  • Keeping the color the same on every slice

Что готовит

  • Burger buns
  • Toast and bagels
  • Croissants and sandwich bread

Что экономит

  • A cook at the grill toasting buns
  • Burned bread
  • Time at the breakfast rush

Окупаемость на времени повара

День Освобождает Экономия в месяц Окупится за
Quiet day 0.5 ч в день 260.00 ฿ 59.0 мес.
Normal day 1 ч в день 520.00 ฿ 29.5 мес.
Busy day 2 ч в день 1,040.00 ฿ 14.7 мес.

Час повара — 20.00 ฿, 26 рабочих дней в месяц, цена машины — из каталога. Hours freed is time spent toasting by hand on a grill or salamander.

от 15,330.00 ฿ →
Speed oven with microwave and convection

Speed oven with microwave and convection

Combines microwave and convection heat in one box, with programs for each dish. It lets a bar or cafe serve hot food without a full kitchen or a cook.

Где применить

  • Cafes and coffee shops
  • Bars and pubs without a kitchen
  • Hotel lobbies and kiosks

Что берёт на себя

  • Heating and crisping prepared food in seconds
  • Running a menu from presets

Что готовит

  • Toasted sandwiches and paninis
  • Pizza and flatbreads
  • Pastries and reheated mains

Что экономит

  • A cook on the floor staff
  • Space for a hood and a full line
  • Food thrown away from slow reheating

Окупаемость на времени повара

День Освобождает Экономия в месяц Окупится за
Quiet day 0.5 ч в день 260.00 ฿ 477.0 мес.
Normal day 1 ч в день 520.00 ฿ 238.5 мес.
Busy day 2 ч в день 1,040.00 ฿ 119.2 мес.

Час повара — 20.00 ฿, 26 рабочих дней в месяц, цена машины — из каталога. Hours freed is cook time the bar or cafe would otherwise need to serve hot food.

от 124,012.00 ฿ →

Which machines suit which restaurant

Where to start. Two or three machines cover the repeat work in most kitchens.

Asian and wok restaurantAutomatic wok, fresh noodle machine, pasta cooker for noodles
Fast casual and bowlsAutomatic wok, drum stir-fry machine, combi oven
Cloud kitchen or ghost kitchenA row of wok robots, pasta cooker, speed oven
Hotel breakfast and brunchEgg and omelet machine, conveyor toaster, combi oven
Burger restaurantConveyor toaster, egg machine, combi oven
Italian restaurantPasta cooker, kettle with stirrer for sauces, combi oven
Steakhouse and fine diningSous vide, combi oven
Canteen, school or staff restaurantDrum stir-fry machine, kettle with stirrer, combi oven
Central kitchen and cateringKettle with stirrer, combi oven, sous vide
Cafe or bar without a full kitchenSpeed oven, conveyor toaster

This is a starting set, not a rule. Tell us the menu and we will match the machines to it.

A manual station against an automated one

Manual stationAutomated station
Who stands at itOne cook per wok, pot or basketOne cook loads several machines
Stirring and timingBy hand and by eyeBy the program, to the second
IngredientsAdded by eye, a little different each timeWeighed into the recipe once, the same every batch
Same dish, two cooksTwo slightly different dishesOne dish
Training a new cookWeeks at the stationOne shift to learn loading and the presets
Peak hourLimited by how many cooks fit at the lineLimited by how many machines fit
What the chef doesCooks the volumeCooks the dishes that need a chef

Typical of the machines on this page. How much a kitchen gains depends on the menu. The more repeat dishes, the more a machine takes over.

What stays with the chef

Automation takes the volume, not the menu. Dishes cooked over open fire, hand-made pasta for the tasting menu, plating and anything the chef changes every night stay with people. A robotic kitchen works best when about half of the orders are repeat dishes: that half goes to the machines, and the cooks spend their time on the other half.

Common questions about restaurant automation

What is a robot chef, and can it replace a cook?

A robot chef is a cooking machine that cooks a dish on its own from a stored recipe. It replaces the repeat work at one station, not the cook. Someone still preps, loads the machine and plates the dish. In practice a kitchen with cooking robots needs fewer cooks per shift, and those cooks spend more time on dishes that need skill.

How many machines can one cook run at the same time?

Usually several. A wok robot cooks a batch in a few minutes without help, so a cook can load one machine, start it and move to the next. How many depends on the menu and on how much prep is done ahead: with ingredients weighed and ready, one cook can keep a row of machines busy through service.

What dishes can an automatic wok cook?

An automatic wok cooks anything that is stirred or tossed in a pan. That covers fried rice, fried noodles, pad thai, kung pao chicken, beef and broccoli, curries, stews and sauces. A robot wok also handles scrambled eggs, risotto-style rice and sauteed vegetables. Dishes that need a grill, a deep fryer or an open flame for smoke are better left to other equipment.

Does food from a cooking robot taste the same as hand-cooked?

It tastes like the recipe it was given. The machine repeats the steps the chef set, so the dish comes out the way the chef cooked it on the day the recipe was saved. What changes is the spread. Hand-cooked dishes vary from cook to cook, and machine-cooked dishes do not.

How do recipes get into the machine, and can I add my own?

Most machines on this page take your own recipes. You cook the dish once and save the steps as a program, or set them on the panel. Some models arrive with a set of preset programs. Ask us about the model you are looking at and we will tell you how its recipes are stored.

Is automated cooking worth it for a small restaurant?

Often yes, because a small kitchen feels the loss of one cook the most. The payback tables on this page count cook time only. An automatic wok that frees two hours of cook time a day pays for itself within a few months at a US cook wage. Start with the one machine that takes over your busiest repeat dish.

Which cloud kitchen equipment can be automated?

A cloud kitchen or ghost kitchen has a short, repeat-heavy menu and no dining room to staff, which suits automation well. The usual set is a row of wok robots, an automatic pasta cooker and a speed oven, with a combi oven for anything roasted. One or two cooks can run that line for delivery orders.

How does automation cut food waste and food cost?

Through fewer lost batches and fixed portions. A machine does not burn a dish because the cook was busy, and it cooks the same weight every time, so food cost per plate stops drifting. Sous vide and combi ovens also lose less weight from meat while it cooks, so a kilo gives more portions.

Is a restaurant robot the same as a cooking robot?

No. A restaurant robot usually means a serving robot that carries plates from the kitchen to the tables and brings the empties back. A cooking robot stays in the kitchen and cooks. They solve different staff gaps and work well together. See our serving and delivery robots.

What power, gas and ventilation does an automated station need?

It depends on the machine. Electric models run on 220 V single-phase or 380 V three-phase, gas models on natural gas or LPG, and each card in our catalog lists the supply. Machines that fry or roast need the same hood as the manual station they replace. We build each machine for your country's power supply and say what it needs before you order.

Tell us what your kitchen cooks

Say what is on the menu, how many plates you serve on a busy day and which station takes the most people. We come back with the machines that fit, the price and the lead time, built for your country's power supply.

A manager answers within one business day.

Which machines are you looking at?